Post Card from India: `Reality hits home with just one bus drive'
The fact that I have been on a few trips to the sub-continent, has probably helped me deal with my first real INDIAN experience
Shaun Pollock
04-Mar-2000
The fact that I have been on a few trips to the sub-continent,
has probably helped me deal with my first real INDIAN experience.
When you sit in your hotel room or by the pool, you are sheltered
from the harsh realities of the world outside. However, this
reality really hits home with just one bus drive through the
heart of the city or the surrounding areas!
When we were in Mumbai, I was privileged enough to visit some of
the not-so-pleasurable areas of the city as an "AIDS Awareness
Outreach Through Sport" Project. The aim of this trip was to
visit the kids of these areas and give them a bit of positivity
in what can be a very negative environment. My eyes were opened
to the sadness of a situation where youngsters are openly exposed
to drugs and prostitution.
This is technically my second trip to India (my first cricket
tour) as I was in Calcutta for 3 days for the opening ceremony of
the '96 World Cup. Expecting the worst, I was pleasantly
surprised to find the first test wicket had a bit of bounce and
carry. The balls they play with in India, which are very similar
to the English Duke, fit very nicely in the hand and swing tends
to be a bowlers main weapon when playing on the sub-continent.
Our bowlers have done a fine job exploiting this swing and have
allowed us to take the initiative and win the first test of the
series. As I sit here on the balcony during the second day of the
second test, we are quite satisfied with our performance in the
field for the first innings of this game. The wicket is a lot
flatter than the first test and it will require a seriously good
effort from us to bowl them out again.
Last night at 2.30 am in the morning something went awry with my
body clock. After 2 hours of tossing and turning, the only
possible solution seemed to be to go for a stroll along the treelined pathways outside the hotel, much to the amazement of the
security guards. TV was not an option as my roomie Zulu seemed to
be quite contently sleeping
I see that my team Man. United have swept aside Bordeaux 2-0 and
seem on track to hopefully put some more familiar silverware in
their cabinet. Now its Liverpool this weekend and this is sure to
be a crunch game with the old arch-rivals and a victory would see
us well on our way to the league trophy.
We are really missing the luxury of watching the super-12 rugby
over here and I was most disappointed to see that the sharks lost
their first encounter with the Hurricanes. And talking about
sharks, we've seen some amazing footage or editorials of sharks
on our favorite TV channels in India, the Discovery and National
Geographic Channels.
Wishing you well form India, Shaun.
p.s.: And I have just witnessed the first SA batsman to score
4000 runs in test cricket, namely Gary Kirsten.